Let me set the scene. It's a hot sunny
day, you're at the beach, you decide to
cool off with a quick swim, but something
sinister is lurking in the water...
not that, and no not that. Something worse.
You've been stung by jellyfish and it
really really hurts,
but no need to worry, Joey's got the answer...
"OUCH! JELLYFISH STING!" - MONICA
"Well there's really only one thing you can do" JOEY
"What is it?!" - MONICA
"You're gonna have to pee on it... don't blame me I saw it on the Discovery Channel!" - JOEY
"If anyone's going to piss on him it's going to be me" - ON TV
"He don't strangers peeing on him!" - ON TV
It it seems everyone knows that
urinating on a jellyfish sting will make it better,
but before you offer to pee on
any of the 150 million people worldwide
who fall victim to a jellyfish sting
every year, let's find out if this method
in the madness.
There are approximately 4,000 different
species of jellyfish, some have tentacles
just a few millimeters long, while others
are equipped with massive 50 meter long
appendages. It's these tentacles, big or
small, that can leave you in a whole
world of pain. Each one is covered in
thousands of cells known as Cnidoblasts,
which have something called Nematocysts inside.
These are basically tiny harpoons
packed full of venom and are triggered
by touch. Once they've been set off they
can penetrate human skin in 700 nano
seconds, that's about 500 times faster
than you can blink your own eye.
Basically there's no escape.
To make matters worse
you could end up writhing around in agony
with red whiplash like marks and
blistering all over the affected area.
A few of you could even die.
Take this little critter for example,
an Irukandji jellyfish
it's smaller than a fingernail
and on a good day a sting from it will
result in vomiting cramps and back pain.
On a bad day you're looking at fluid on
the lungs, a brain hemorrhage, and
30% of the time some kind of heart failure.
And you've got roughly a 20% chance of ending up on life support.
Unsurprisingly peeing on it
won't save your life despite what you
may have learned from Friends or the
Internet, in fact urinating on a
jellyfish sting is more likely to make
it worse and here's why.
These venom packing Nematocysts can be triggered by
change in the balance of salts inside
and outside of the Cnidoblast cells that
house them, urinating on the affected
area simply dilutes the salt levels
outside of the Cnidoblasts, unleashing
the Nematocysts and releasing more
venom so not only are you now covered in
pee chances are you're in more pain now too.
Thing is jellyfish stings can be more
than just painful as people down under
know all too well according to the
National Science Foundation at least one
person dies every year in Australia as a
result of being stung by a jellyfish.
One local critter the Chironex Fleckeri
is particularly lethal and it's sting can
kill a victim in just three minutes but
the lifeguards in oz have a secret
weapon to help those in mortal danger
and the weapon is...
vinegar... yep you heard me
right, vinegar.
According to various
studies and doctors vinegar helps to
deactivate the Nematocysts that haven't
fired thus stopping more venom entering
the body, normally this is where I'd break
down the science for you but no one
really knows how the vinegar works.
Back in 2011 Dr. Lisa-Ann Gershwin - Director
of the Australian Marine Stinger
Advisory Service, admitted as much, she said...
According to Gershwin vinegar prevents
about 90% of jellyfish venom
from entering your system by shutting
down the remaining Nematocysts. However
in 2014 researchers studying box
jellyfish found that while vinegar does
deactivate any unfired Nematocysts, it
also stimulates the ones that have
already happened you into releasing more
of their venom... around 50% more...
more venom means more pain and although
that study remains controversial, vinegar
is not as widely recommended as it once was.
So what's the safest thing to do?
First try and deactivate the Nematocysts
that haven't fired yet, if you don't
trust vinegar then washing the affected
area with salt water can help. Remove any
tentacles stuck to your body, probably
worth wearing gloves or using a stick
when doing this, since even the tentacles
of a dead jellyfish you still sting you
from beyond the grave. Now pull out a
credit card, maybe even a seashell and
run its over the affected area, this
should remove any of the nasty
Nematocysts on the skin... then you just
have to wait it out, most of the time
popping a pain killer will do the trick,
but if you're having difficulty
breathing or having chest pains then
call an ambulance.
Oh and make sure you
end up calling a doctor if you get stung
on the face or the genitals otherwise
things could get really nasty.
So don't pee on a jellyfish sting
and don't get health advice from a sitcom no matter
how popular it might be.